Middlemen Blocking Mortgage Mods

By Ben PopkenApril 1, 2011

Homeowners trying to get loan mods often run into resistance by banks who say they’re powerless because they need to protect the interests of investors. But ProPublica reports a recent lawsuit uncovered a document where, when HSBC polled investors, a majority of those responding say they favored letting the loans being modified.

So who are the banks really protecting then? Well, while the poll is very interesting, it doesn’t actually remove the risk that the bank could still be sued. But by the same token it also shows that there might be more leeway than the banks are letting on, leeway that a lot of homeowners could sure use right now.